Countdown: Top 10 reasons we love Dick Clark

By Henry Hanks and Jareen Imam, CNN

Updated 12:57 PM ET, Fri April 20, 2012

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Friends of Dick Clark, who died Tuesday at age 82, shared photos they took with him over the years. The Drifters were one of the first African-American groups to be featured on Clarks' show "American Bandstand," in its early days in Philadelphia. Late band member Bill Pinkney posed with Clark in 1997 at the 45th anniversary celebration for the show. As his legal steward Maxine Porter put it, "He was just pleased to be in attendance as one of the very earliest artists before going national."

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Paul Revere, of the classic 1960s band Paul Revere and the Raiders, met Clark for the first time during a shooting of the NBC show, "Where the Action Is." "He was so famous, and when you saw him in person you had this 'oh my god, there he is moment.' But he never acted like a star. He was a good person," Revere said.

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Sioux Falcone, who worked with Clark in Los Angeles, posed with him at a 1980s holiday party. "I pulled out the photo yesterday and here he is, wearing his name," Falcone said. "I thought it was really endearing, and everyone had a name tag on, so I am sure he thought that he needed to do it, too."

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Drummer Bill Rodriguez was among those who posed for this large group photo with Clark for his Las Vegas show in the 1970s. Rodriguez admitted to a mistake in one of the performances: "I was so nervous I launched into the 'Bandstand' theme all by myself before Dick's monologue, leaving Dick alone on the stage with a mic while I played by myself before realizing I'd just massively blown it. Dick just told the audience, 'Ah, the enthusiasm of youth,' and made it seem as if it was part of the show. "

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Dennis Foreman of Kansas City, Missouri, briefly met Clark at the restaurant he owned in 1992. "He walked around to each individual table, talked and shook hands. He stopped and talked to people, took pictures, signed autographs. The thing that I thought was most memorable -- when I thanked him, he said 'No sir, thank you for coming to my restaurant.'"

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Friends, fans remember Dick Clark – Alan Light has captured many celebrity photos over the years, including this one of Clark at the Grammys in 1990. Here he is seen with his wife, Kari Wigton, who was often seen kissing Clark on television at the start of a new year.

Story highlights

From his early days as one of the first faces familiar to television audiences in the 1950s, as host of "American Bandstand," Dick Clark was a constant.

He wasn't just a major force in television, but in the music industry as well, up until his death on Wednesday at the age of 82.

So it's no wonder that iReports flooded in from those who worked closely with Dick Clark, as well as those who only knew him as a friend who came into their living rooms, whether it be each week or only each New Year's "Rockin'" Eve.

Dick Clark was involved with so much, from various award shows, to the popular "Pyramid" Game show, to "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," that only focusing on one reason he was so loved by so many just isn't enough. Even three reasons doesn't cover it.

So here are ten reasons -- counting down, like he did to the new year -- why iReporters loved Dick Clark:

Sioux Falcone worked with Dick Clark in the 1980s. She well recalls him wearing a name tag to his own holiday party.

"I was watching CNN and my son asked who the man on television was and I told him 'actually he was my boss.' And my son didn't believe me. So I pulled out this photo yesterday and here he was wearing a name tag. I thought it was really endearing."

She also said that her fondest memory of Dick Clark was when he gave her his first desk after he moved to the west coast for 'American Bandstand.' She inquired about the piece of furniture with the office manager and a few days later Clark was at here desk.

"He said, 'I heard you want my desk,' and I said I would pay, but he said I didn't have to pay for it," she said. "He helped me load his antique desk into my car," she said. "He would show random acts of kindness like that.'"

"The first comment I heard him make about Dick Clark was, 'You know, we were one of the first black acts, if not the first, on his show in Philadelphia before he went national," she said.

"As a little girl, watching television in Mississippi, I was not exposed to blacks in any positions of power or affluence," said iReporter Elnora Fondren Palmtag of Clarksdale, Mississippi.

"Dick Clark was an inspiration when he fought for the integration of his show, first for the performers on his show and later adding dancers of different races. I know he helped to launch the careers of some great black performers, but you may not see the impact he had on the poor underprivileged children of the ghettos around the country who did not know that they could be more than what they could see around them."

Every afternoon, Janie Lambert from Hughesville, Maryland would switch on American Bandstand at home, and dance to Chubby Checker, learning to do "the Twist" and "the Limbo."

"I will never forget March 1967 when the Beatle's Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were debuted on 'American Bandstand.' The Beatles new look and sound was eerie, strange, a little frightening but oh so very exciting. This was a big change for the music industry."

Lambert described "Bandstand" as "the part of my day that I looked most forward to,' she said. "No one can take his place."

Paul Revere is a member of Paul Revere and the Raiders, who hit it big in the 1960s. He worked with Dick Clark for several years and describes Clark as being a wonderful and close friend. Revere describes one of his fondest memories with Clark when he and his band were at a shoot for the '60s NBC show, "Where the Action Is."

"He's my guy. We saw each other six weeks ago, and I can't even believe he is gone." He said his heart sunk when he heard the news of Clark's passing. "When you get older you want to spend time with the people you are close to, and you keep putting things off because you always think you are going to have another day."

He said he is really glad he had the chance to see Clark six weeks ago.

"You need to always tell your friends how much they mean to you," he said. "That is what I learned from this situation... I gave him a hug and told him everything I have and everything I am I owe to him."

Kathi Cordsen remembered thinking about how ageless Dick Clark seemed on television when she tuned in to watch his show. Her fondest memory of Clark was when she would throw dance parties at her house with her neighbor friends while they watched "American Bandstand" in the afternoon.

"I remember always thinking how Dick Clark never seemed to age from year to year and I wondered how he did that. Good living and being a good person, that must have been what it was."

When Karen Folkes was a teenager, she was living in Minnesota, but she was travelling to Hollywood to dance on Dick Clark's show. Her brother, who lived in California at the time, managed to get her and her friend passes to "American Bandstand."

She found herself in Clark's office with his now wife, Kary Wigton, who was also from Minnesota. Clark and Wigton told Folkes she could come by the show whenever she wanted. During the 1970's Folkes danced on the show 32 times.

Dancers still have Dick Clark to thank, as he produced the Fox television series "So You Think You Can Dance."

Paul Martin was a British DJ living in America during the 1960s "British invasion," and looked up to Clark.

"Some entertainers are trained in broadcast schools, some get lucky and just land a broadcast job on the spur of the moment, others get there because of who rather than what they know and the right connections, etc.," said Martin, now living in Beverly Hills, California. "But Clark made it to the top of his profession because he was the right guy at the right time on the right show and America and the world's most popular television music program!"

Steven Leuck, a contractor in Eugene, Oregon, worked for Clark in his New York City home in the mid-1980s. Having grown up on "Bandstand," he was "thrilled" to work for him.

"Mr. Clark called me at home and told me personally how much he appreciated the extra time and work it took to get [his] specialty lighting purchased, delivered and installed on time," he said. "He gave me his home phone number and told me that if I should ever need anything that he could do for me that I should never hesitate to call on him. I have worked with many celebrities over the years but he was far and away the kindest, most thoughtful gentleman of all the celebrities I have ever met or had the pleasure to work with."